


Foundational Legacy

by Barid (Finale)



Series: Tree, Sea, Lightning [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Mokuton User Haruno Sakura, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:42:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22091260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Finale/pseuds/Barid
Summary: A week before graduation, Haruno Sakura is revealed to have Mokuton.A week before graduation, Hatake Kakashi is no longer the only teacher for Team Seven.A week before graduation, futures are changed.The Founders left legacies behind, and now it's time for them to come into their own.
Relationships: Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Hatake Kakashi, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Shiranui Genma, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Yamato | Tenzou, Gai-han | Team Gai & Dai-nana-han | Team Seven, Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy, Namiashi Raidou/Shiranui Genma
Series: Tree, Sea, Lightning [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1594414
Comments: 77
Kudos: 384





	1. Legacy of Lake and Forest

Hiruzen silently stares at the tree in the middle of the Academy classroom and the slight, pink haired girl standing next to it. Iruka is hovering protectively over Haruno Sakura’s shoulder, and Hiruzen isn’t quite certain how to react. No one had naturally had Mokuton since the Shodai’s day, and Sakura is too young to be the result of Orochimaru’s experiments. To the best of his knowledge though Tsunade is the only Senju left, but his once-student never had any children.

“How did this happen?” he asks. 

“We were doing basic chakra control exercises. Kiba wasn’t keeping proper control of Akamaru, something I will be discussing with his mother later today, and he leapt on Sakura while she was doing it. From there well.” Iruka gestures at the new tree. Hiruzen thinks it may be a cherry tree. 

The simple fact of the matter is that Haruno Sakura shouldn’t have Mokuton. As he recalls, she’s only a second generation nin. Her father is a retired genin and her mother a career chunin. While Sakura is showing promise, none of it indicated this possibility.

The first thing he’d need to have done would be a DNA test to figure out how and if Sakura is a member of the Senju clan. After that, he’d need to arrange for Tenzo to start training her; a second Mokuton user, and a natural one at that would be invaluable to the village. He’d also need to arrange a guard for her. Even a simple rumor of Mokuton would lead to potential kidnappings. They’d had quite a few over the years directed at Naruto under the (accurate) rumors that he was the Yondaime’s son and the Kyuubi’s jinchuuriki. 

“Sakura, do you have any idea of why this could be happening?” Hiruzen asks, unsurprised at the girl shaking her head ‘no’. “We are going to need to do a DNA test to figure out how and if you are related to the Senju clan. Then, no matter what, a special teacher will start training you on how to use Mokuton.”

Green eyes go huge as she stares at him. It’s not really a surprise. The only people who get outside tutors or mentors while in the Academy normally are clan heirs. A clanless girl would normally never have the opportunity. 

He smiles warmly at her. No matter what, her Mokuton was a blessing for Konoha. A reminder that the Shodai’s strength lives on. That his _legacy_ lives on.

* * *

“Hiruzen, it’s almost _3 in the morning_ ,” Danzo says flatly. “I was asleep. What is so important that it couldn’t wait until a _reasonable hour?”_

Homura and Koharu both nod in agreement, Homura looking on the verge of falling asleep standing up. Koharu hides a yawn behind her hand, and Danzo can tell she’s mentally listing all the items in the room she could brutally maim Hiruzen with. 

“If it could wait till morning do you think I’d have woken you three up?” he asks, giving Danzo a flat look of his own. “I would advise sitting down and listening.”

Sitting down normally meant a long meeting. He carefully lowered himself onto the chair, hiding a wince from pain coming from his knees. Even with the enhancements he’d had done to himself, almost seventy years of living have left him scarred in ways he’d never managed to fully heal. 

...There are few things more ominous than Hiruzen pouring saké before the start of a meeting. All four of them take their cups, but Hiruzen doesn’t close the bottle. Danzo takes a sip of it just as Hiruzen speaks.

“Earlier today, Haruno Sakura, an Academy student in her last year demonstrated Mokuton. She was startled by another student and accidentally created a tree,” he says, making Danzo choke, and Homura spit out his sakè. “There is presently an ANBU guard protecting her, and I had a DNA test done to figure out if she’s related to the Senju clan, and if so, how. Tenzo has also been informed that starting tomorrow he will be training her.”

All things that made sense, but even that isn’t enough for Hiruzen to give them the good sakè. It’s a pity discovered Hiruzen the girl’s abilities first though. She’d make an excellent asset to ROOT.

“Are we certain the girl isn’t one of Orochimaru’s experiments?” Koharu asks. “One left over, or recently released?”

“No. She’s simply too young, and I already looked back over Orochimaru’s notes on his Mokuton experiments; he explicitly refers to Tenzo as the only success.” Hiruzen looks into his cup as if seeking answers, and then downs the entire thing. He all but slams the cup down on his desk. 

“Per DNA testing, Haruno Sakura is a member of the Senju clan via being Tobirama-sensei’s great granddaughter.”

….

“Tobirama-sensei had no children,” Koharu points out. “He never married, and I don’t remember him ever having a relationship, even when we were genin.”

“At some point he must have, since the testing, which I will note was done six times to make sure it was correct, shows that she’s his great granddaughter. He may have had an affair and the mother of his child simply never told him she was pregnant.” Hiruzen sighs. “I have not yet told the Haruno family, though I will in the morning. I’ve sent a message to Tsunade to let her know about the Harunos.”

Logical. As the clan head she’d need to acknowledge the Harunos to make them a part of the Senju clan. But. Why did Tobirama-sensei hide that from them? Even if he hadn’t known about his daughter, surely he would have had said something about having a lover?

“Well, I see why this couldn’t wait till morning,” Koharu says, yawning. “Plans will need to be changed in context of this. End of the academy exams are in a week, and teams are starting to be put together, correct? I imagine this will change quite a few things. And possibly make you listen to the suggestion I made to you last year,” she adds, giving Hiruzen a slight glare.

“What suggestion did you make last year?” Homura asks. 

“This year’s class includes the only surviving member of the Uchiha clan. While it’s obvious that Hatake will need to be his teacher due to their shared Sharingan, I told Hiruzen last year that it would be unwise for the boy to be on a team, and should simply be apprenticed to Hatake instead,” Koharu explains. “I also advised Hiruzen that Uzumaki should be taught one-on-one by someone, rather than placed on a team.”

“How does this relate to Haruno having Mokuton?”

“I’m getting there Homura, shut up,” she says, glaring at him for cutting her off. “My suggestion is this; three dedicated teachers for Uchiha, Uzumaki and Haruno. While they are all theoretically on the same genin team, it’s only if they need to participate in the Chunin exams, rather than be given direct promotions. Hatake and Tenzo would be two of them, though I am unsure who I’d suggest as a third.”

Danzo opens his mouth and she directs her glare now at him. He slowly closes his mouth, having vivid flashbacks to their teen years and her shoving a mild explosion tag down his shirt after he annoyed her; he still has burn scars from it. Something tells him she would support Hiruzen’s ongoing veto against Uzumaki being brought into ROOT for training. Admittedly, with Hatake and Tenzo being involved that would be unlikely anyway but…

Hiruzen looks thoughtful. It is a good idea. Danzo personally is of the opinion that Uchiha Sasuke should be killed for the village’s safety, but with his survival tied to Itachi’s agreements his hands are tied. ANBU has kept a close watch on the boy to stop any kidnapping or assassinations. And Uzumaki should always have been put into ROOT’s keeping so he could have been given proper training as the village’s weapon. 

“It may be the best idea,” Hiruzen says. “Especially since Sakura will require her outside tutoring. Hatake will be the overarching teacher, but his focus will be on Sasuke. Tenzo will train Sakura, and Naruto…” he frowns. “If Jiraiya was here I’d have him train Naruto, but the last message I had from him said he would be going to Mount Myoboku to speak with the Great Toad Sage, and he didn’t give me a clear length of time he’d be there.

“Either way, exams are not for another week. We can think until then.”

_Because we have to choose carefully, since these three have the possibility of being Konoha’s most powerful._

* * *

“The Nidaime is my great grandfather?” Sakura asks, not sure how she can believe that. “But according to the history books he was never married!”

“That is what the DNA tests are showing us,” the Sandaime says, sitting at his desk. She and her parents are standing on the opposite side. “Most likely your great grandmother was a woman he was having some form of secret relationship with for some reason or other.”

“I know Grandma mentioned that she never married Grandpa, but she didn’t say anything about him being the Nidaime,” Dad says. “Just that she didn’t want to marry him, even after he proposed. I guess in hindsight she didn’t want to be part of a noble clan.”

The Sandaime nods, taking a puff of his pipe. “I have sent a letter to Tsunade allowing her to know about this. As the present clan head, she may offer to have your names put in the Senju Clan register. It is up to you if you’d like to make it public knowledge that you are descended from the Nidaime. I would suggest though if you do, do so after Sakura passes the Chuunin Exams, and yes, I do have full faith you can do so Sakura,” he says, smiling at her. “I also have someone you need to meet.”

A tall man with long brown hair and an unusual happuri-style hitai-te steps into the room, expression, smiling just the slightest bit. 

“This is Tenzo. From today on he will be your instructor on how to use Mokuton.”

* * *

“The boy successfully retrieved the Forbidden Scroll without anyone noticing, and learned the shadow clone jutsu in less than an hour?” Koharu asks, more than a little incredulous.

“Naruto is full of surprises,” Hiruzen says, passing her a cup of tea. It’s only them in his office, Hiruzen having decided to keep Homura and Danzo out of the conversation of who Naruto’s teacher should be. In another three hours Tenzo and Kakashi would arrive to discuss the unusual teacher situation for the new Team Seven.

“Do we have anyone who specializes in both traps and seals?” Koharu asks, trying to remember who does what in terms of the elite jounin. She technically does herself, but she’s self aware enough to know she’s not a good teacher. There’s a reason Hiruzen was the only one of them to ever have a genin team. “Perhaps Shiranui Genma?”

She ignores the look Hiruzen gives her from that suggestion. She instead rolls her eyes at him. 

“Hiruzen. At this point keeping the former members of Namikaze’s guard away from his son is ridiculous. We both know there’s been enough kidnapping and assassination attempts from other villages to know there’s suspicion over Uzumaki’s parentage and status as a jinchuuriki. If you use Shiranui the others will also get involved, but that also means we can have people who can use Hiraishin around and be able to easily extract him from a dangerous situation.”

“Next you’ll suggest telling Naruto about his parents,” Hiruzen says. 

“Well, why not? Per Umino’s report he already knows about the Kyuubi,” Koharu points out. “Better we tell him now, rather than an enemy nin to say it to him. Then we’d either have to lie to him or tell him that the enemy nin was telling the truth, which would possibly shake his faith and trust in Konoha, and we don’t need that.”

Hiruzen frowns at her, but she knows she’s right, and she knows he’ll accept it in three, two…

“Fine,” he says. “Shiranui as the final teacher, and after the first team meeting tomorrow I will have Naruto come here and I’ll tell him about his parents.”

“Excellent. Now all we need to do is tell Shiranui he’s teaching Uzumaki.”

* * *

“As of last week it was discovered that Haruno Sakura is Senju Tobirama’s great granddaughter, and she has Mokuton. As a result of that, several changes have been made to the future Team Seven,” Hiruzen says, studying the three men in front of him. “Now, Team Seven possess three genin who are possibly the most valuable genin in the village, and the three with the greatest possible potential. While prior to the discovery of Sakura’s Mokuton the plan had been for Kakashi to teach Team Seven alone, that has now changed.

“Team Seven as a whole is under the primary leadership of Kakashi. Specifically however, you will be training Uchiha Sasuke, especially once his Sharingan awakens. Tenzo, you will continue to train Sakura with her Mokuton and the incredible chakra control you mentioned in your report yesterday. Genma, you will be training Naruto in terms of seals and traps.”

“Can I use a paralytic on Kakashi every day to make sure he’s on time to train the kids?” Genma asks, since he has his priorities in the right order.

“Genma!” Kakashi theatrically gasps. “How cruel!”

“Yes.” Kakashi throws an even more betrayed look at Hiruzen. He ignores it with the practice of a man who once had to catch a streaking two year old version of Kakashi. The betrayed look of a toddler is effective; the barely visible betrayed look of a twenty something year old is not.

“Why is Haruno having Mokuton causing the big change up?” Genma asks. “And I thought teams weren’t decided until after graduation anyway? How was anything already in the works for Team Seven?”

“Teams are in fact chosen at the start of the final year,” Hiruzen explains. “Iruka and the other Academy instructors are supposed to watch over the entire year to make sure the correct choices were made. As of last month all the teams had been finalized. While Naruto did originally fail the final exam due to manipulated events, I always intended to make him a genin anyway. But last month when Team Seven had been finalized, it had been finalized without the knowledge of Sakura having Mokuton. If Sakura’s Mokuton hadn’t been discovered, then Kakashi would still be the only person in charge of Team Seven.”

“So what exactly about that made the change necessary?”

“A suggestion by Councilwoman Utatane from last year that she repeated to me after the discovery that Sakura possessed Mokuton. Last year she advised me that Naruto should have one-on-one instruction with a teacher, and that Sasuke should simply be apprenticed to Kakashi. At the time I ignored her advice. However, with the discovery of Sakura’s Mokuton the idea was reevaluated and it was decided on that each student would have a dedicated teacher, all while still being a single genin cell,” Hiruzen explains. “Since Konoha does not traditionally do apprenticeships straight out of the Academy.”

Genma nods thoughtfully. 

“Now, head to the Academy. Iruka should be done assigning teams soon. Once the meeting is done, please bring Naruto to me Genma. We need to discuss his parents.”

* * *

Sakura ignores Iruka-sensei calling out the names for which students are going to be on which teams. She is more focused on the scroll Tenzo-sensei had given her the day before, detailing a complicated chakra control exercise. As such, until Ino screeches she doesn’t hear the Team Seven announcement. 

“Forehead gets to be on the same team as Sasuke!?”

“My ears are ringing,” Sakura mumbles. “Wait, I’m on what team?” she asks, jerking her head up. 

“As I said, Team Seven will be Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto. Your primary genin instructor will be Hatake Kakashi,” Iruka-sensei repeats. 

“Okay,” Sakura says. Instead of squealing her victory over being on Sasuke’s team like she would have just a week ago, she focuses back on the scroll. Boys can wait, scroll is more interesting.

She misses Ino’s incredulous look or Sasuke side eyeing her. If she’d been paying attention she would have realized how out of character she is acting, but she’s more interested in this than anything else right now. Everything Tenzo-sensei has been teaching her has been fascinating, and she wants to learn as much as she can as quickly as she can. 

Sakura doesn’t notice at first that everyone else is being picked up by their teachers until only Team Seven is left. Iruka-sensei is organizing papers on his desk, and then someone knocks on the door. 

Tenzo-sensei and two other men walk into the room. The one man has truly ridiculous silver hair and barely any part of his face visible. He seems to be sulking over something, and she can almost smell burnt paper for some reason. The other is wearing a bandana and has a senbon in his mouth, which she’s pretty sure is unsafe. 

“You managed to get Kakashi here _on time_?” Iruka-sensei asks, gaping at Tenzo-sensei and the others.

“I’m not always…”

“I have full permission from the Sandaime to use a paralytic to make sure he gets to things on time,” the senbon chewing man explains. “And he was with us, since we had a meeting with the Sandaime earlier.”

Iruka-sensei smiles at that, which makes Sakura kind of nervous. If this Kakashi is the Kakashi who’s supposed to be teaching them...but then again, why is Tenzo-sensei and the other guy with him? Is there something going on?

“Room Nine is set up with privacy seals,” Iruka-sensei says. 

“Thanks. Come on you three, let’s go do introductions and we’ll explain what’s going on,” Tenzo-sensei says, guiding them all out of the room.

* * *

Kakashi studies the curious trio of students in front of him and he wants to groan. He doesn’t want to have to teach. He’s not a good teacher; the only type of training he’s ever does has been with ANBU, and at least they already have most basic skills. Baby genin don’t really have that.

Well, at least he has Genma and Tenzo to help make sure no one ends up dying.

“Names, likes, dreams,” he says abruptly. “I’m Hatake Kakashi, I like reading and my summons, and my only dream right now is that you’ll all survive to fourteen.”

“Senpai!” Tenzo looks at him in utter exasperation. “I’m Tenzo. I like gardening and tea. My dream is to make sure that you are able to use your abilities to the best of your ability.”

“I’m Shiranui Genma. I like spending time with my friends and am ecstatic the Hokage technically gave me permission to test out new paralytics on Kakashi. My dream is that my boyfriend realizes I found the engagement ring he bought and finally propose.”

“Raido still hasn’t proposed?” Kakashi asks, distracted. “He made me and Iwashi help him choose that three months ago!”

“I know I think he keeps panicking,” Genma says, rolling his eyes. “Now, you three, go. Starting with pinky.”

“My name is Haruno Sakura. I like the lessons Tenzo-sensei has been giving me.” She smiles. “My dream is to be able to prove I deserve my great grandfather and my great uncle’s legacies.”

“My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen and Iruka-sensei. I’m going to be the Hokage some day!” 

“My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like tomatoes. My only dream is to be strong enough to kill a certain man.”

Kakashi exchanges a glance with Genma and Tenzo. Well that just made Sasuke a flight risk. The first powerful individual who offered him that type of power (or claimed they could give it to him) would probably be able to grab him. 

“Do you have a dream that doesn’t involve fratricide?” Genma asks. “Or know what you’d want to do after that?”

Sasuke freezes, and Kakashi bites back a sigh. It’s obvious the kid hadn’t thought of anything, and just hyper focused on wanting to kill Itachi. 

“We’ll work on that,” he says. “Now, with introductions out of the way, we have a few explanations to hand out, including why this team will be having an unusual set up. 

“As you may be aware of, traditional genin teams involve three genin and one sensei. That is not the case with this team. Technically, each of you is apprenticed to one of the three of us. Sakura, as you can probably guess since you’ve already been training with him, you’ve been apprenticed to Tenzo due to your Mokuton. Naruto, you’ve been apprenticed to Genma as a future traps and seal specialist. Sasuke, you’ve been apprenticed to me since presumably you will awaken your Sharingan, and as such will need training from the last loyal trained Sharingan user in Konoha,” Kakashi says, pushing up his hitai-te to show his. 

“Why do you have that?” Sasuke demands, going pale. 

“My genin teammate and best friend was Uchiha Obito. During a mission that went very wrong I lost my eye and he ended up losing his life. As he was dying he ordered our teammate, Noharu Rin to take one of his eyes and transplant it into me,” Kakashi says. “I’ve had my eye now for almost fifteen years.” He keeps quiet about having a Mangekyo. Bad enough he had to even briefly discuss Kannabi Bridge. 

Sasuke frowns at him, but stays silent. Which. Good. 

“Lessons are going to be set up pretty simply,” Kakashi says. “In the morning there will be team training, and in the afternoon individual training. Along with morning team training we’ll be doing what are known as ‘D Rank’ missions. They’re closer to chores than anything else, but they’re the starting point for all Konoha shinobi. Once we’ve hit a certain amount of those we can start doing C Rank missions.”

“First training day is tomorrow,” Genma says. “Seven in the morning at Training Ground 10. Get a good night’s sleep, have a good breakfast.” The three genin stand up. “Oh, Naruto. You and I need to go talk with the Hokage. He has something he needs to tell you.”


	2. Legacy of Sea and Sacrifice

“Am I in trouble?” Naruto asks, following Genma-sensei out of the Academy and toward Jiji’s office.

“Nope,” Genma-sensei says with a slight shake of his head. “Hokage-sama just has some stuff he can now let you know since you’re a full shinobi of Konoha. It’ll be just me, Hokage-same and Councilwoman Utatane there.”

“Does he do this for everyone?” Who's Councilwoman Utatane?

“No, this information is special to you,” Genma-sensei says, shaking his head again.

“Is it a mission?” Naruto asks hopefully. But then again the senseis had said something about D Ranks earlier...

“No. Well, I don’t think there will be any mission,” Genma-sense amends. “You never know with the Hokage. He apparently didn’t always remember to warn his former students when they had to have them.” Genma grins.

“Hokage-jiji had students?” Naruto didn’t know that!

“They didn’t teach you about the Sannin at the Academy?” Genma-sensei asks, surprised. “They were three of Konoha’s most powerful shinobi, even if one did become one of Konoha’s worst traitors.”

Naruto rubs the back of his head a bit sheepishly. “I kind of skipped a lot of class, so they may have.”

“I’ll give the three of you a quick history lesson on them tomorrow, in case the Academy didn’t,” Genma-sensei promises. “The Sannin were a pretty big deal. All of them were considered for Hokage at one point or another. None of them became Hokage, but they’d all been candidates.”

"Why didn't they become Hokage?"

"Not willing to wait till tomorrow?" Genma-sensei huffs out a laugh. "Tsunade's been traveling for years. Jiraiya refused and supported Namikaze-sama for Yondaime. Orochimaru in the end was decided against for some reason that I don't know, and about five years later went traitor anyway."

“Is that why Jiji is still Hokage?”

“Yeah. There’s only a small handful of people who’d be able to succeed him as Hokage,” Genma says. “Kakashi’s one of them, but I know he once hid in Training Ground 44 to avoid having to discuss it with the Sandaime. Personally, I think that outside of strength Kakashi would be a terrible Hokage, and he doesn’t want it.”

Naruto can’t really get _not_ wanting to be the Hokage. But then again, he doesn’t think any of his other classmates had ever said anything about wanting to be Hokage…

“Why wouldn’t he want to be Hokage?” Naruto asks. 

“No clue,” Genma-sensei says with a shrug. “I’ve got a couple of guesses, but…” he pauses, and Naruto realizes they’re in the Administration Building, just in front of Jiji’s office. Genma-sensei knocks on the door. 

“Come in.”

* * *

Hiruzen puts down his pen and watches the ink start to dry. He’d written the letter as a means of distracting himself, for all it is one he’d needed to do. If he didn't send it to her soon...Well, annoying a woman who held the Daimyo's ear never ends well. Not telling her could lead to unexpected ramifications.

Koharu watches him silently, and he’s not certain what she’s thinking. He’s not even entirely certain why she decided on sitting in on the meeting, though he does have a suspicion. He’s noticed that for the past week she’s been avoiding Danzo and Homura; he’s fairly certain she had a fight with them, and can even guess the topic. For almost a decade she’s moved in lock-step with them, and now she’s siding with him over what’s possibly the most important present matter in Konoha.

He knows Danzo wants control over Naruto, and likely wants control over Sakura, and he’s not going to get it. He chose Kakashi for Team Seven’s primary jounin instructor for more reasons than just his Sharingan and strength.

After all, the only jounin who trusts Danzo less is Tenzo.

He can faintly hear Naruto chattering at Genma as he also hears a knock at the door.

“Come in,” he orders.

“Hi Jiji! Look I passed!” Naruto says with a grin, tapping his forehead protector.

“Congratulations Naruto,” he says, smiling at him. It hurts to think of how that may be one of the last smiles he gets from Naruto for a while. “Now since you’ve passed, I have a few things to tell you.”

“Who’s that?” Naruto asks, interrupting him to point at Koharu.

“I’m Utatane Koharu,” she says. “I’m an advisor to Hiruzen.”

“Jiji’s name is Hiruzen?”

“Yes.”

“Naruto, I have something to tell you,” Hiruzen reminds him, drawing back his attention. “It involves your parents and the Kyuubi.”

Naruto hunches slightly, and it’s still likely too soon to really touch on the Kyuubi, but the bland look Koharu is giving him means she won’t let him get away with not discussing the history of the jinchuuriki. Then Naruto frowns at him.

“I thought you said you didn’t know anything about my parents?” he asks.

“I was not being honest,” Hiruzen admits. He sighs. “The matter of your parentage, much like your status as the Kyuubi’s jinchuuriki is an S-class secret. The reason for that is that they both had many enemies who gladly would have killed or kidnapped you due to it.”

Hiruzen takes a deep breath, closing his eyes so he doesn’t have to see the betrayal flood Naruto’s face.

“Your parents are the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, and your mother is Uzumaki Kushina, an elite jounin from Uzushiogakure and previous jinchuuriki to the Kyuubi. When your mother gave birth to you the seal containing the Kyuubi was weakened and then your parents were attacked by a still unknown shinobi, who tore the Kyuubi from out of Kushina’s seal. They were forced to fight both the mysterious shinobi and the Kyuubi, which eventually led to their deaths.”

“What?” Naruto asks, voice cracking. Hiruzen opens his eyes and the expression of betrayal on Naruto’s face is still a punch to the gut even though he’d been expecting it.

“Your father and mother died defending Konoha and you. Your father was forced to seal the Kyuubi in you to stop it’s rampage and the only seal he could use was one he’d known would result in his death; due to your mother’s injuries from fighting both the shinobi and the Kyuubi they both knew it was impossible for it to be sealed back into your mother since she most likely would not have survived a resealing anyway.”

Naruto’s face goes blanks, but Hiruzen still has more to say.

“You are the third jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. The very first was Uzumaki Mito, a princess from the Uzumaki Clan of Uzu no Kuni and wife of the Shodai Hokage. When the Shodai fought Uchiha Madara at the Valley of the End, Madara was also controlling the Kyuubi, using it to attack the Shodai and Mito-hime. In the middle of the battle she successfully sealed the Kyuubi into herself, turning the tide of the battle so that the Shodai was victorious over Madara.

“Towards the end of Mito-hime’s life your mother was chosen to be the next jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. She moved from Uzushio to Konoha, and a year later the Kyuubi was sealed into her. Mito-hime died a few months later, though that was in part due to old age.”

Genma drops a hand to Naruto’s shoulder as the blond curls even further in on himself. The tokujo frowns at him, but there wasn’t an easier or kinder method of doing it.

Naruto opens and closes his mouth as if he’s trying to find a question, to find the demands he knows Naruto deserves to make. But nothing comes out, and Hiruzen says nothing to draw it out. Genma just continues to frown at him, and he can feel Koharu’s gaze burn against his skin.

“Let’s go kiddo,” Genma says as Hiruzen stays silent.

Naruto quietly follows Genma out of the office. Hiruzen puts his pipe down on his desk; he no longer wants to smoke, even it if normally soothes him. He’s almost tempted to reach for the baijiu he keeps hidden in the bottom drawer, underneath his copies of Icha Icha.

Koharu studies the door, a strange expression on her face, one that he hasn’t seen before.

“Koharu?”

“It’s odd,” she says slowly. “I didn’t expect to care that he’s now upset. But it was almost like watching Mito-hime get upset the few times I witnessed it. Like watching Kushina break down after Uzushiogakure fell. And now I’m not certain why I didn’t expect it.”

“It may be because Mito-hime mentored you on seal work,” Hiruzen says. _It may be because you’re projecting Mito-hime and Kushina on Naruto_ , he adds silently.

“Maybe,” she says.

“To change the subject,” Hiruzen says, finally deciding to ask something he should have earlier. “Just what _has_ happened between you, Danzo and Homura?”

“We’ve had an irreconcilable difference,” she says simply. “We’ve disagreed on a matter of great importance, and due to siding against them...” Koharu sighs and then meets his eyes. “I believe you can guess.”

Sadly, he can.

* * *

Genma glances down at Naruto as the twelve year old silently follows him out of the office. His face is eerily emotionless, and Genma hates that look. It feels wrong, like how the world felt after the Yondaime and Kushina-hime died. It had taken almost five years for him to resettle, and he knows Kakashi still hasn’t.

Then again, Kakashi still hasn’t come to terms with his father’s death so...

“You okay kid?” Genma asks, ruffling Naruto’s hair.

"No," he says honestly. "I just...I asked him about my parents when I was little and he told me he didn’t know. But he always knew and lied to me and...”

“And it was always wanted to know who your parents are?” Genma asks gently.

“Yeah.” He shoves his hands into his jumpsuit pockets, subdued to the point of ignoring the strange looks the villagers are giving the duo.

“Naruto, do you want to join me and a few others for dinner?” Genma asks. “The other people will be the Yondaime’s former bodyguards. We can tell you stories about your parents.”

“You can?” Naruto asks, head jerking up and eyes going wide.

“Yeah. Raido, Iwashi and I protected you parents from the day you dad became Hokage to the day he died,” Genma explains. “So we knew them pretty well. Kakashi knew them too; your dad was his jounin instructor. That’s part of why he’s your jounin instructor too, along with being the only person able to train Sasuke if he ever gets the Sharingan.”

“Yes!” Naruto agrees giving him a hopeful smile that then turns into a confused. “Wait, _if_ he gets a Sharingan? Don’t Uchiha all get a Sharingan?”

“No,” Genma says with a shake of his head. “Plenty of Uchiha never did. Most of the ones who were active shinobi did, but not all of them. Kakashi’s teammate, Uchiha Obito, only got his just before he died. So it’s not guaranteed Sasuke will, but if he does Kakashi’s the only person in Konoha who could train him.”

Naruto still looks confused, which Genma doesn’t really blame him. It always strikes him as weird that all Uchiha didn’t get the Sharingan when you compared it to the Hyuuga and the Byakugan were everyone did.

“Come on, let’s just head home. If Raido paid attention to my message earlier we should have ramen.”

* * *

Naruto’s never been near the shinobi apartments. His apartment is on the almost opposite end of Konoha. Now that he’s a genin though he may be able to get into one of these apartments. Naruto is pretty sure the hot water stays on here, and he won’t find random drunk people passed out in the hallway. That happened a lot at his, and the building wasn’t kept in good shape.

“Rai and I live in the upper floors. A lot of jounin and tokujo live in this one,” Genma-sensei says. “A few chunin like Umino Iruka live here as well,” he adds.

Genma-sensei waves at a few people as he walks inside the lobby, and Naruto ignores the curious looks people are giving him. No one is glaring at him yet, but then again, a lot of the shinobi didn’t. Maybe some of them knew his parents who his parents were? 

“Wait, Iruka-sensei lives here?” Naruto asks, realizing what Genma had said. 

“Yeah. I think he’s been living here for the past six months or so,” Genma says. “Not sure what floor he’s on though.”

Cool! Maybe he can go see Iruka-sensei tonight?

Naruto follows Genma into an elevator and practically vibrates as they make their way up. His building is old and doesn’t have an elevator, and none of the other buildings he’s ever been in needed them. The floor they end on is almost eight stories up, and there’s only a handful of doors he can see. 

“Here we go,” Genma-sensei says, unlocking a door. Naruto follows him inside.

Naruto looks around, not entirely sure what to expect. The living room is big, and someone is sharpening kunais on the couch. There are a few bookshelves, and a locked cabinet, with a few pictures on the wall. Naruto can hear a different person’s voice in what he thinks is the kitchen. 

“Rai, Iwashi, Naruto and I are here,” Genma-sensei says, making the man on the couch jerk his head up and another man pop out of the kitchen. 

“Hey kid,” the man on the couch says with a wave, putting down a kunai. “I’m Tatami Iwashi, one of your parents’ former guards.”

“And I’m Namiashi Raido, another one of their guards and Genma’s boyfriend.”

“Kakashi-sensei said you should be Genma-sensei’s fiance since you bought him an engagement ring,” Naruto says, intentionally misconstruing Kakashi’s early comment about helping Raido buy the ring.

“Errr.” Raido’s eyes go huge, giving Genma-sensei a guilty look.

“It’s fine Rai, I’d already found the ring,” Genma-sensei says, kissing him on the cheek. “So let’s get it out of the way, yes I’ll marry you, let me go put on the ring.”

“I had a plan for proposing. A romantic one.”

“Well, if you’d asked three months ago when you first got the ring we wouldn’t be doing this right now,” Genma-sensei says, heading into another room. 

“I told you so,” Iwashi says. 

“Shut up,” Raido says with a grumble. “Naruto, do you want anything to eat or drink?” Raido asks. “We’ve got ramen for dinner tonight, but that’s still a couple of hours away.”

“Juice?” Naruto asks, a bit overwhelmed by the offer. He’s not used to that sort of thing. 

“Orange or apple?”

“Orange please!”

“You can sit down and I’ll go grab it,” Raido says, gesturing to a chair and heading back into the kitchen. 

“Make sure it’s the actual juice and not the small bottle of poison in the fridge!” 

“Stop putting your poisons in the fridge Genma!”

“Always be careful when you eat or drink something here,” Iwashi says. “Since Genma doesn’t always remember to mark his poisons or put them in normal locations. And be careful about grabbing thing, they both use poisons and sometimes forget which of their weapons are poisoned and which aren’t.”

“Oi, only Genma does that,” Raido says, handing Naruto his juice. “I mark which of mine are poisoned and which aren’t.”

“Bullshit,” Iwashi says. “But you can believe what you want to.”

“So the Hokage told you about your parents?” Raido asks Naruto. “You want to hear about the time your mom managed to turn your dad bright yellow for a week and he only managed to turn back after he got her some super expensive chocolates?”

“Did my parents love me?” Naruto asks instead. 

“Yes,” Genma says immediately, having reentered the living room as Naruto blurted out his question. He has a photo in his hands that he gives to Naruto “They were ecstatic when they discovered you were going to be born, and desperately looking forward to raising you,” he adds. “Your parents hated having to seal Kyuubi into you, but it was the only way they could have kept you and Konoha safe.”

Naruto isn’t entirely sure if he believes that, but he wants to. He looks down at the photo and freezes. It’s of his parents. 

His Dad looks like every picture he’s ever seen of the Yondaime Hokage. His Mom though...his Mom’s hair is a red more vivid than he thinks he’s ever seen anyone in Konoha have, and her eyes are bright purple. She’s wearing a long, dark green dress and her hair is almost down to her ankles. He’s pretty sure she’s pregnant, and both of them are practically glowing in happiness.

“So, if you don’t want to hear about the time your mom turned your dad yellow, you want to hear about the time your dad managed to rescue her from Kumo nin when they were genin by tracking her via strands of her hair?” Iwashi asks, regaining Naruto’s attention. “I once heard him describe it as their ‘red thread of fate’.”

Naruto nods his head and listens to stories about the parents he always wished he had, and now at least knew about.

* * *

“So I can’t be the only one who feels like people are up to shit, right?” Raido asks, grabbing the tea pot to start boiling water. As much as he’d like sake, it’s not the time for it.

“Nope,” Genma says. “Utatane at least is definitely up to something, even if right now it’s a helpful something.”

“She’s siding with the Sandaime over Danzo, of course she’s up to something,” Kakashi says a scoff, making Raido jump. Tenzo is right at his shoulder. 

“When the hell did you get here?” he demands. The door and windows are all locked!

“Thirty seconds ago, update your traps,” he orders. “Or at least stop taking down Genma’s because you got caught in them due to being drunk.”

“Really?” Genma asks with a groan. “ _Again_ Rai?”

“That doesn’t matter right now, what matters is that the Hokage and all the Elder Council seem to be up to something,” Iwashi says, cutting off any more discussion of Raido’s inability to avoid Genma’s traps.

“There’s definitely been a split.” Genma grabs the box of the good jasmine tea. “Utatane was in the room with us, but not Danzo or Mitokado. I think she’s on Sarutobi-sama’s side for once, but I’ve got no clue why.”

“She was the one who suggested three different teachers,” Tenzo adds.

Kakashi puts his book away. “She took advantage of Sakura having Mokuton. Sarutobi specified that up until Sakura was revealed to have Mokuton I was supposed to be Team Seven’s only teacher. Then with Sakura it gets changed. Councilwoman Utatane apparently suggested a year earlier that both Naruto and Sasuke get given apprenticeships instead of being on a traditional genin team. She probably took advantage and pushed for all three of us to train the kids.”

“But why? Why choose three jounin that are the least likely to let Danzo get his claws into them? There’s not a shot in hell any of us would allow Danzo near them,” Raido points out, ignoring the fact that technically he and Iwashi aren’t involved in the matter. They can finally have access to Naruto and help him. He sure as hell at least isn’t going to squader that. Exchanging a glance with his fellow Guardsman he can see he feels the same.

“I think that may have been her point,” Genma says thoughtfully. “She kept staring Sarutobi-sama down as he was telling Naruto about his parents, as if making sure he didn’t stop.” He puts some of the jasmine in the pot and waits for it to brew.

“She may have been stopping someone from being able to use the secrets against Naruto and Konoha,” Tenzo says, catching onto Genma’s train of thought. “She may have been worried that if it upset Naruto enough he’d go against the village.”

“I’m inclined to think she’s the one who got Sarutobi-sama to talk about Minato-sensei and Kushina,” Kakashi says. “I asked less then a month ago if I would be able to talk to Naruto when he graduated to being a genin about them. I didn’t know then that I’d been chosen as his teacher, but I still wanted to try and talk to him. Instead I was told ‘no’, it wasn’t wise.

“And now this, and along with the teacher thing the connecting detail is Utatane. She’s up to something, but I can’t figure out for the life of me what it could be,” Kakashi admits with a scowl. He heads for the fridge and grabs one of the chilled bottles of sake. Raido bites back a sigh and makes a note to make Kakashi buy more of it; it’s a fairly expensive bottle. 

“We’ll figure it out,” Tenzo assures him. “But at least it looks like whatever she’s up to is bad for Danzo, and that’s good for us.”

“I hope so,” Iwashi says. “By the way, have you guys figured out how you’re even going to train everyone? Like, teamwork, stuff like that? Since you do have a really weird set up.”

“Tomorrow we’ll need to do a bunch of basic tests,” Genma says. He pours tea for everyone. “Figure out just where they all actually are in training, since the exam results aren’t always the best indicator of anything. For example, can’t exactly get much of a sense for chakra control from the exams.”

“I can tell you from already working with her that Sakura’s is perfect. May actually be a hundred percent,” Tenzo says. “I’m going to suggest we test for elemental affinities. We already know about Sakura's, but it may be a good idea to check Naruto’s and Sasuke’s as well.”

“Sasuke is a Uchiha, it’s going to be fire,” Raido says. 

“Not all of them are fire, just most of them,” Kakashi says. “Sensei never said it to him, but apparently Obito’s _wasn’t_ fire or lightning; he had earth and water of all things.”

“How the hell could Minato-sama know that but not Obito?” 

“In hindsight I probably should have asked that, along with why he never said anything to Obito.”

“Naruto is the one who’s really up in the air anyway,” Genma says. “He could pretty much have anything; Uzumaki lean toward water and wind from what I remember, but Kushina-hime also had fire. Minato-sama had wind.”

“We’ll test both of them then. We should see how far along all of them are in basic ninjutsu,” Kakashi adds. “Sasuke at least probably knows a couple of fire, and all three in theory should know the Academy Three.

“So let’s see how that goes tomorrow and figure out a more indepth training plan after that.” 

* * *

Kakashi wakes up to a splitting headache and Genma looming over him, no senbon yet in the tokujo’s mouth.

“I had too much sake,” he groans. He probably shouldn’t have had the second bottle to celebrate Raido finally proposing to Genma.

“No shit,” Genma says, completely unsympathetic. “And we’ve got training with the kids in less than a half an hour. Tenzo’s already headed over there, since according to him Sakura likes to be early to things. There’s coffee in the pot and food on the table. I already fed Naruto and he’s headed back to his apartment for a change of clothes, and _why the fuck does he live a block out of the Akasen district?!_ ”

“You’ve done guard duty on him and you never noticed that before?” Kakashi asks, rolling off the couch.

“No I haven’t,” Genma corrects. “Rai and I both weren’t allowed to do guard duty. I think Sarutobi-sama didn’t trust us not to try and wriggle some way into his life.”

“Huh. He let me.”

“You’re emotionally constipated and incredibly traumatized. He didn’t need to worry about it, since from the Yondaime’s death to now you basically emotionally folded in on yourself,” Genma points out. “You’d keep an eye from a distance because you’d be afraid to get too close. The people you’re closest to are Tenzo and Gai, and Gai barely counts since you married him.”

Kakashi grimaces and doesn’t respond, since it’s kind of true. Oh well. Gai’s been his since they were five.

“Anyway, go eat the food and drink coffee. _Now._ If you try to make us late, I’m using the new stuff I got in Taki. I’m going to figure out if Rai and I can convert the guest room into someplace he can stay, since it’s not okay for a twelve year old to be living there.”

“ _That_ the Hokage may not allow,” Kakashi points out, heading toward the kitchen.

“As a genin Naruto is an adult in the eyes of the village. There isn’t really much Sarutobi-sama can do. And if he does try it, I’ll grab Umino and get him involved. I can’t see him being much happier over the Red Light District thing if he’s aware of it.”

“True.” Every rumor he’s heard out of ANBU since the mess with Mizuki puts it as pretty likely that Iruka may try to move Naruto in with him soon anyway. They’ve kept an eye on the Academy teacher since he proved to possibly be the only ninja in Konoha actually capable of catching Naruto when he got up to his pranks. If it wasn’t for his status as a teacher and chunin, then Bear may have made an effort to recruit him purely for Naruto-duty.

Well, that and Naruto-duty was one of the best ways for training ANBU how to deal with trap masters. He’s pretty sure he’s the only ANBU to never get caught in one of Naruto’s traps, and that’s more because Naruto traps like Kushina did.

“Then talk to Umino,” Kakashi says. “And Rai.”

“I’ll grab him after class ends today at the Academy,” Genma says. “And…”

“Talk to Rai why?” Raido asks, yawning. 

“I’m going to have Naruto move in.”

“Cool. Tell me when he starts setting up the apartment traps.” Then the other tokujo staggers back into the bedroom, as if remembering he doesn’t have to be up at the ungodly hour of six thirty in the morning.

Kakashi doesn’t want to be up now either. 

“Go eat, drink and get dressed Hatake,” Genma says. “I need to go figure out if we need to run over to one of the supply shops for affinity test papers.”

* * *

Sakura perches on the highest branches of the tree, watching Tenzo-sensei pretend he can’t sense or see her. No one else is there yet, but there’s also a half an hour to go. She’s glad he’s there already though. She has a few questions for him.

“Tenzo-sensei? Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” he says, quickly darting up the tree. It’s an easy way to keep a conversation quiet, and depending on Tenzo-sensei’s responses she’s not sure she wants to be overheard.

“Do you think I should tell everyone on our team about my Great Grandfather?” she asks bluntly. “Since they already know about my Mokuton, and at least it’ll explain where I got it from.”

Tenzo-sensei looks out over the trees, a thoughtful look on his face. Dawn is just breaking, flooding it with light.

“I’m going to suggest yes,” he says slowly. “While we’ll be sure to keep it specific to the team until you’ve taken your Chunin Exams, telling Naruto and Sasuke makes sense. The Sandaime already let Kakashi and Genma know about it.”

Sakura nods. That’s what she’d been thinking last night. Teammates are supposed to trust each other, and hiding something like being the Nidaime’s great granddaughter would break that trust.

They sit there and watch the sun fully rise. A check at Tenzo-sensei’s watch tells her it’s five minutes to seven when Sasuke arrives, and Naruto appears a minute before, with Genma-sensei and Kakashi-sensei arriving perfectly on time. Kakashi-sensei looks exhausted and Genma-sensei looks like he’s about to laugh.

“Told him not to have that much sake,” Tenzo-sensei murmurs.

“He’s drunk?!”

“Hung over,” Tenzo-sensei corrects quietly. Then he grins rather ghoulishly, and Sakura realizes none of the others seem to have noticed them hidden in the tree. “Good morning everyone!”

Sasuke leaps away from the tree, Naruto shrieks, Genma-sensei rolls his eyes and Kakashi-sensei chucks a kunai at Tenzo-sensei which he catches. 

“How are you up there!” Naruto demands, pointing at them both. 

“Tree walking, which will also be one of today’s first lessons! Sakura will get to skip to water walking since I already taught her this...”

“You taught me that too sensei.”

“You need better chakra stores. Anyway, Naruto, Sasuke, that will be part of your lesson today,” Tenzo-sensei says, unphased by her interruption. 

“But first, we’re going to do some basic tests and conversations, so everyone down here,” Kakashi-sensei says. 

Tenzo-sensei leaps out of tree and she carefully leaps through branches, treating them almost like steps so she can reach the ground. Naruto gives her an impressed look but Sasuke glares at her, which makes her wilt. What’s wrong with her already knowing how to do this? It’s not like it’s hard!

“So, first thing! Elemental affinity tests,” Kakashi-sensei says. 

“If you three don’t remember from class, each shinobi has at least one elemental affinity,” Genma-sensei says. “The basic five are lightning, fire, earth, wind, and water. After that you can get kekkei genkai elemental releases like Sakura’s Mokuton, which is a combination of water and earth.” 

Kakashi-sensei takes a piece of paper and runs a bit of chakra into it, making it crumple. “I have lightning,” he says. “Which is common in the Hatake clan. The paper will burn if you have fire, crumple if you have lightning, turn to dust if you have earth, split in half if you have wind and turn wet if you have water.”

“Me first!” Naruto says, waving a hand.

“I’m a Uchiha, we have fire,” Sasuke says dismissively. 

“I knew at least five who had lightning,” Kakashi-sensei says. “So you’re still going to test. But yes, Naruto, you can go first. Just push a little bit of chakra into the paper.”

Naruto sticks out his tongue slightly and has a look of concentration on his face, as if using only a little chakra is hard. The paper splits neatly in half, while also turning wet with a weird, flicker of red flame(?) consuming it.

“Alright, that was kind of strange,” Kakashi-sensei says. “But I’m pretty sure your mom did the same thing to elemental affinity paper so it’s fine.”

“You know who Naruto’s mom is?” Sakura asks, surprised. Everyone knew the blond was an orphan, and she’d never heard of anyone else in the village with the last name ‘Uzumaki’.

“Genma and I knew both his parents, and we’ll be discussing them later,” Kakashi-sensei says, an odd looking crossing his face. “Now Sasuke, your turn.”

Sasuke grumbles as he takes his paper and then freezes. First it crumples and then it burns. 

“So you’ve got a lightning affinity with a lesser fire,” Kakashi-sensei says calmly. “Now that we know exactly what your affinities are we can partially structure your training around that since Sakura’s will be fairly heavily focused on her Mokuton.”

“Why do you even have that?” Sasuke asks her. “How?”

Oh, he just made that easy for her! And it means he finds at least a little interesting!

“We just found out the Nidaime is my great grandfather,” she explains, watching Sasuke’s expression actually turn to shock. “So I would have gotten it from him. Grandma never said who her dad was,” she added. “So we didn’t know until last week. It’s why Tenzo-sensei is already training me, he also has Mokuton.”

“Wait, so we’re both related to Hokages?” Naruto asks, and wait, what?! 

“Naruto, we were going to discuss that _later,_ ” Genma-sensei says, barely avoiding his senbon as he facepalms. 

“Who are you related…” Sakura trails off and really takes a good look at the boy who’d been dead last at the Academy and then jerks her head to look toward the Hokage Mountain, and it’s easy to see just who he’s related to. “Holy shit.”

“His parents are the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato and his wife Uzumaki Kushina, an elite jounin of Konoha and Uzushio,” Genma-sensei says, ruffling a sheepish looking Naruto’s hair. “I served as a member of the Hokage’s Guard back when they were both alive.”

Sasuke’s back to expressionless, but she can practically feel a storm cloud over him and can’t understand why. What’s wrong with them being related to Hokage? 

“Now, let’s get back on track in terms of training,” Tenzo-sensei says calmly. “First thing first. Let’s check your endurance.”

Sakura bites back a groan. It’s going to suck!

And it did. She had the lowest endurance and speed, but was physically the strongest. Naruto had the highest endurance, and Sasuke was just barely faster than him. Both of them are physically stronger than Sasuke, which surprises her. She’d expected to be the weakest in all of them.

The next thing they check is chakra control, and she’s not surprised to realize she has the best. Tenzo-sensei had already told her she had perfect control, which is incredibly rare. Naruto had the worst, but that also hadn’t been a surprise. After Tenzo-sensei had explained just how good her’s is, she had done research on chakra control in general. According to what she’d read, bad chakra control could explain Naruto’s issues with clones. 

“Naruto, how many shadow clones can you make?” Genma-sensei suddenly asks, and what’s a shadow clone?

“Dunno? A lot?” Naruto frowns. “I think I made at least ten when I was with Iruka-sensei.”

“What’s a shadow clone?” Sakura asks. 

“A kinjutsu-type clone jutsu,” Tenzo-sensei explains. “They’re solid clones that require massive amounts of chakra to make due to their durability. They also have the advantage over a regular clone of being able to pass on memories of what they’ve done to their creators.”

“That’s why I remember hitting Mizuki from so many different places!” Naruto blurts out. “That’s so cool!”

“And incredibly useful for training,” Genma-sensei adds. “Which since we know some of the Academy teachers sabotaged your training means it’ll be helpful to use them to have you catch up on some stuff.” He looks first Sakura in the eye and then Sasuke. “ _However._ You two will _not_ be taught to use them. The only reason Naruto can use them is he has what are possibly some of the largest chakra stores in the _continent_. Using even one would put you two on the verge of chakra exhaustion. There’s a reason it’s a kinjutsu.”

Sakura nods thoughtfully, but a part of her doesn’t really care anyway. Tenzo-sensei had already told her there was a Mokuton-specific clone that she could be taught to do.

“What do you mean he has the most chakra?” Sasuke demands. “He was dead last!”

“Class ranking is meaningless in this sort of situation,” Kakashi-sensei says. “Uzumaki in general lean toward massive chakra stores. Naruto’s parents were two of the most powerful shinobi in the Elemental Nations while they were alive. It took the Kyuubi to kill them. He very much takes after them in terms of raw power.”

“Well, at least I’m still stronger than Sakura,” he says with a scowl. 

Sakura flinches, since is that all he cares about? If he’s stronger than someone?

“Strength at the end of the day is also meaningless. Stop obsessing over it,” Genma-sensei orders. “An assassin with a hundredth of the strength of a Kage can still kill them. Skill is where it matters, not power. That is why you get trained. So you gain _skills._ So pay attention and learn.”

* * *

_Sasuke has passed his genin exam and is now on Team Seven, with Hatake Kakashi as his jounin-sensei._

Tessen Izumi puts the letter down gently on her desk, running her finger along the words. Sasuke had finally taken and passed his exams, becoming an adult in the laws of Konoha and Hi no Kuni. Her agreement with Hiruzen is now over.

She has plans to make. Visiting Konoha during the Chunin Exams would make sense. Normally Oribe would attend the Final Round, but she can easily enough convince him to send her in as his representative instead... She glances over at the weapon’s rack in the room, with unassuming black uchigatana resting on it.

It’s the only item with the Uchiha Clan crest still on it in their clan compound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \--Baijiu is a common Chinese alcohol, which I’ve in fact had before. It's a grain alcohol with an average range of 56-130 proof. I do intend to name drop non-sake East Asian alcohols, just cause after a while it gets boring. The stuff I drank smelled like paint thinner but tasted pretty good. My one friend stared at me in horror when I said that and then demanded to know how I could like it and yet hate tequila. To this day I'm not quite sure of the answer myself.
> 
> \--Welcome to Koharu continues to be a reasonable human being, it’s freaking people out. If it's not clear, she's heavily fighting with Danzo and Homura over having basically been the one to put Team Seven's training into the hands of basically three of the worst jounin for Danzo to have to deal with. Since she's aware of ROOT's continued existence she has a genuine (and justified) concern over Danzo using it against her. 
> 
> \--For the record, Hiruzen is correct on his thought she's projecting Mito on Naruto. Characters projecting on Team Seven is going to be a major issue, and I think you can guess why.
> 
> \--It occurred to me as I was writing this that I have no clue if Naruto ever knew what Sarutobi's first name was before he died, hence his confusion here. That and I thought it would be a funny first interaction between Naruto and Koharu.
> 
> \--If it’s not obvious I like people actually fucking communicating, especially over important shit. That's probably why I managed to make this damn chapter over 6k words.
> 
> \--Edited note: Akasen means 'red-lined'. It was a term previously used in Japan for what we'd consider to be a 'Red Light District'
> 
> \--If Iruka had ever ended up in ANBU it really would have purely been for Naruto-wrangling duty. Power-wise, personality-wise and general skill wise he's not the right fit, but it really was hard for ANBU to keep track of Naruto. This was in fact a different mission than Naruto guard duty. They are in part at fault for Naruto's love of orange because they wanted a distinct color to find him. This ended up technically backfiring on them since Naruto ended up being very unnervingly capable of hiding even with his 'kill me orange' jump suit. It is however useful for him in terms of being an active shinobi.
> 
> \--I love KakaGai so it had to happen. I have in fact figured out most of the ships for the rest of the fic, but I won't start adding them until their relevant, and for any of the romantic ships for Team Seven, they won't really be relevant till 'post-time skip'. We will start seeing *set up* pre-time skip, but they won't really start until after.
> 
> \--Due to him not being named in canon, the pre-Boruto Daimyo is named here Furuta Oribe, the name of a real life daimyo who also had the nickname of ‘Sasuke’. You can rather obviously guess why I felt I had to do this.
> 
> \--For the kekkei genkai elemental releases I’ll use the Japanese names, though for the basic five (fire, water, wind, lightning, earth) I’ll use the English. To some extent, I’m doing that for the ‘this is special’ feeling. 
> 
> \--You can probably guess what's up with Naruto's weird flame thing during the affinity test.
> 
> \--As a reminder, the 'Tree, Sea, Lightning' universe shares a cosmology set up with 'A Sunlit Sea'. The next fic in the series will be the related myths and legends for it.
> 
> \--For any of you interested, you can find me on [tumblr](barid-bel-medar.tumblr.com) or join me on my [discord](https://discord.gg/FkzgtHr) Over there you'll find future snippets, get to chat with me, and other random things.


	3. Legacy of Fire and Lightning

Sasuke hates everything right now. 

“Get up,” Kakashi-sensei orders, standing over him. “And get back on the tree. You need to work more on your control.”

Sasuke bites back a growl. In the two days he’s been working on tree walking he’s only gotten half way up the tree before falling. He’d seen Sakura do a handstand on water only an hour ago. Naruto’s is at least worse than his, but that’s probably due to how much chakra he has. 

Watching him accidentally blast himself off a tree had still been funny.

“If you don’t get this down, you can’t start work on any jutsu,” Kakashi-sensei continues. “On top of that, tree and water walking are basic shinobi skills. I expect you to have this down by the end of the week at the latest.”

“If they’re such a basic skill, why don’t they teach it to us in the Academy like they do how to use kunai?” Sasuke demands. 

“Because, to be blunt, fifty percent of Academy students don’t make it to active service, and keeping tree walking training in the hands of jounin-sensei means you avoid the issue of non-shinobi using the rooftops to get around,” Kakashi-sensei explains. “A lot of shinobi leave traps on the building roofs for safety, and those can be incredibly hard for non-shinobi to recognize.” 

“I want an interesting jutsu after this,” he grumbles. 

“No. After this you will master water walking and maybe after that we’ll work on ninjutsu.”

“Sakura’s being allowed to use ninjutsu!” Sasuke snaps. How in Indra’s name is it fair that she gets to do it when he can’t? “I need to start using ninjutsu!”

“Sakura has also been able to tree walk and water walk since before our first team meeting,” Kakashi-sensei says. “On top of that, as a Mokuton user it is genuinely dangerous for her to not get control over it, so she needs to be learning ninjutsu. You don’t have an active kekkei genkai that could trigger at any moment; she does.” 

Sasuke flinches and then scowls, because _ that’s not fair either _ . That she has a kekkei genkai that she can use, and he’s stuck with no Sharingan. It’s starting to scare him, since shouldn’t he have it by now? All of his cousins  and Itachi had had it before they even graduated from the Academy!

“Now get back on your tree.”

Fine. He’ll fucking master this, and water walking, and prove they should be giving him more and better training than the other two are getting. So what if Sakura’s the Nidaime’s great granddaughter and has the Shodai’s kekkei genkai? So what if Naruto’s the son of the Yondaime and apparently an elite jounin princess? He needs more training. He has to get stronger if he’s ever to avenge his family. 

_ He has to. _

* * *

“So, how has the first week gone?” Hirzuen asks, lighting up his pipe. This time Koharu isn’t there; Shikaku had grabbed her for a reason he isn’t entirely clear on. 

“Sasuke’s a flight risk,” Kakashi says bluntly. “Extremely dedicated to training and wants to race ahead but…”

“It’s for all the wrong reasons,” Genma finishes for Kakashi. “He’s obsessed with killing Itachi and it’s the only thing he focuses on. He has no thoughts on what he’d do if he succeeds in killing Itachi.”

“He’s also not handling Sakura and Naruto having the sort of legacies and abilities they have,” Kakashi continues. “The fact Sakura has already started on ninjutsu is upsetting him, and being told that he’ll never compare to Naruto in pure power is making him furious. He’s also not handling Sakura having a kekkei genkai when it’s starting to look more and more like he may not have a functional Sharingan.”

_ What? _

“Explain,” Hiruzen orders. 

“Sasuke’s should have been triggered by the events of the massacre,” Kakashi says bluntly. “Hell, it wouldn’t exactly have been surprising if he’d gone straight to having a  _ Mangekyo Sharingan _ due to what happened then. But instead he has neither. Rin getting kidnapped was enough to trigger Obito’s Sharingan awakening. Itachi got his from visiting a battlefield. Being trapped in Tsukuyomi and being forced to witness his parents’ murder over and over again definitely should have caused the awakening.”

Hiruzen grimaces. The Uchiha clan records could have information on whether or not it’s possible too much trauma could in fact  _ stunt  _ a Sharingan’s development. It’s also possible that a second ‘traumatic’ event could serve as the trigger for Sasuke. It’s also possible that even though he’s the son of the late clan head and is about as pureblood a Uchiha as possible that he truly doesn’t have the Sharingan.

“And there’s no true way to test for a possible Sharingan,” Hiruzen says with a sigh. 

“Exactly,” Kakashi says. “So I’m keeping my eye on that, though I may be able to convince him of the value of  _ not _ ever having a Sharingan. Not having one hasn’t stopped you from being an amazing Hokage, and me having one doesn’t mean I’m any less of a mess.”

“Kakashi.” Hiruzen gives the man who’s his present most likely successor a flat look. “If you were a mess I wouldn’t be considering you for the hat.”

“I am a mess and would be a terrible Hokage and we all need to accept that,” Kakashi says. “And anyway, shouldn’t Tsunade-same be on her way? She’s going to want to at least meet the Harunos. You may be able to convince her to take the hat until Naruto is ready.”

“What do you mean by that?” Hiruzen asks, as if it isn’t similar to an idea he’s been toying with though with using Kakashi instead of Tsunade. 

“Naruto has been shouting that he wants to be Hokage practically from the day he was born. He’s got charisma in spades like both of his parents, and now that he’s got one-on-one teaching he’s improving by leaps and bounds. You know that he went from being basically incapable of the Academy Three to all but perfect in a week because he had a one on one, hands on trainer?” Genma shakes his head with a grin. “You have to give Ebisu this, he’s a damn good generalist teacher. Too bad he didn’t want to go work at the Academy.”

“So you’ve had no issues with him and his problems with the Kyuubi?” 

“Five minutes of actually talking with Naruto, along with an in depth lecture on just what type of seal Naruto has and admittedly telling Ebisu who his parents are smoothed things out,” Genma says. “Oh, and Naruto managing to get Konohamaru on his side also helped. As a heads up, by the way, the ANBU are probably about to have a new tiny tormentor since Konohamaru’s declared that Naruto’s his ‘boss’ and idol.”

Hiruzen ignores the sound of Boar whimpering in the corner. If the ANBU can’t handle chaotic children they need more training. If he and the village could survive dealing with the Sannin and Kakashi as children, the ANBU as a collective whole could survive Naruto and Konohamaru. 

Well, hopefully at least.

“I will think about that,” Hiruzen says. “Now, Tenzo, how is Sakura doing?”

“Great. We discovered today she has the Shodai's passive regenerative ability with her Mokuton. She fell out of a tree, broke her arm, and five minutes later was healed,” he explains. “She also accidentally scared the shit out of all of us in the process.”

“I’d imagine,” Hiruzen murmurs, thoughts racing. He’d known there was a good chance Sakura would have Hashirama-sama’s healing ability. After all, Tenzo had it, if to a much weaker degree and his Mokuton was artificial. 

“I’m thinking of giving Sakura Hashirama’s scroll,” Tenzo says. “Even if she’s not ready to start things like the Wood Human Technique or the Wood Dragon, it’s still good for her to study the theory behind them first.” 

“She can only study the scroll under your supervision and you keep it on hand. She doesn’t take it home with her,” Hiruzen orders. “That scroll is considered to be full of kinjutsu.” That getting lost or stolen would be a disaster. 

“Of course,” Tenzo says with a nod. 

“Now, tell me what you three have planned for lessons from here on out.”

* * *

He hates how silent the clan compound is now that he’s the only one there. The only things he can really hear are the breeze and the cats. It should be loud from his cousins shouting and playing outside, with the sound of his parents talking in the kitchen, and Shisui teasing Itachi. 

But now he’s the only one left. 

Sasuke checks to make sure the Flame of Kamuy-huci is still lit. It is; the only time it wasn’t was the night of the massacre. He vaguely remembers hearing his mom make a comment about the Flame flickering before he left for school. Then he came, the Flame was out, everyone was dead. 

Ever since he relit the Flame it’s burned, but he always has the fear of coming home and finding it gone again. That he’ll find it burnt out, that he’ll find Itachi waiting, and that he won’t be strong enough, and he’ll die. He’ll die before he can avenge his clan.

~~ He’ll die, he’ll die,  _ he’ll die. _ ~~

~~_ He doesn’t want to die. _ ~~

He has to convince Kakashi-sensei to start teaching him ninjutsu and to speed up his training. If Itachi comes back to Konoha he’s completely helpless. He needs to learn more now, especially since so much of what he thought about himself is wrong. Why does he have a lightning affinity? Why doesn’t he have his Sharingan?

Maybe if Kakashi-sensei gave him the training he wanted he could figure that out.

* * *

“Eternal Rival, why are you face down on the couch trying to smother yourself?” Gai asks, walking into the apartment and witnessing what’s either a very weird suicide attempt or simply Kakashi resisting the urge to scream at someone or something. 

“I regret letting myself be badgered into teaching Sasuke,” he says, voice muffled. 

“You didn’t get badgered, you got ordered,” Gai points out. 

“Genma is badgering me into being a good teacher,” Kakashi clarifies, lifting up his head.

“... _ Kakashi _ .”

“I didn’t want to be part of Team Seven at all,” Kakashi reminds, rolling over onto his back. “I understand why I may need to train Sasuke. If he were to ever awaken his Sharingan, I’m the only person capable of training him to use it. But I still think that he won’t in light of it never happening in the immediate aftermath of the Massacre.”

“You are still one of the best jounin to teach him, especially since you’re one of the few capable of fighting Itachi on an equal level,” Gai points out. Of all the shinobi presently living in the village, the only ones capable of fighting Itachi equally are himself, Kakashi and Sarutobi-sama. “Especially with your…”

“Ability that is still an S-class secret that we aren’t supposed to even discuss in our apartment?” Kakashi asks dryly. “If I reach the point I need to use _ that _ during a fight I’ve already got a lot of problems.”

Gai just shakes his head and let’s that go. 

“What do you have planned for training tomorrow?”

“Water walking for Sasuke, and hopefully Naruto. Sakura is learning how to ‘shape’ her trees. Why?”

“Let’s do cross team training! Let your students see genin who are several months past graduation, as well as a squad who has a vastly different specialization! It will be good for all six of them!"

“Well, that means we should probably ask Sarutobi-sama if your team can be told about Sakura’s Mokuton, since at the very least that’s an unavoidable bit of information if the kids train together,” Kakashi says. “Let me go send a message to tell Tenzo and Genma to get over here, and a third to request permission to let your team know about Sakura.”

“Let me go make tea and dinner for all of us then, since it looks like it will be a long night.”

* * *

“Where are we going?” Neji asks Gai-sensei. “This isn’t our normal training ground.”

“We are going to train with my Eternal Rival’s team today!” he says cheerfully. 

“Why do you always refer to your husband as your Eternal Rival?” Tenten asks, a question that’s also always bothered Neji. 

“Because he is also my Eternal Rival,” Gai-sensei says, completely unhelpful. 

“Oi! Gai!” 

Neji frowns at the grinning brunet jogging toward them, a cheerful blond just behind him. 

“Genma!” Gai-sensei leaps over and hugs the man. “Ah, and this must be your apprentice, Uzumaki Naruto!”

“Hi!” the blond, apparently named Naruto, chirps. “Who are you?” He looks vaguely familiar, and Neji is fairly certain this ‘Naruto’ is the boy who was this graduating year’s dead last and who Hinata seems to like.

Then again, being dead last doesn’t mean that much. Lee had been last in their year and he certainly is more dangerous than that would imply.

“I’m Maito Gai. I’m Kakashi’s husband and Eternal Rival, along with Genma’s former teammate,” Gai-sensei explains, Genma-sensei and Naruto joining them as they walk. “My team and I will be doing training exercises with your’s today.”

“I thought we were training with your husband’s team?” Tenten asks. 

“You are. Team Kakashi has a weird set up,” Genma-sensei explains. “Kakashi is the overall lead jounin for the team. Then there’s two additional jounin, myself and Tenzo. The three of us are specifically teaching one member of Team Kakashi. I’m training Naruto. Tenzo is training Haruno Sakura. Kakashi is training Uchiha Sasuke.”

“Genma-sensei’s training me on traps and seals!” Naruto explains brightly. “Along with teaching me a bunch of other cool stuff.”

“You’re a seals master?” Tenten asks, eyes brightening. Neiji knows she’s been having trouble finding an instructor to give her more in depth training. There’s only so much she can get out of the genin library. As a clanless orphan she has no resources to seek out a proper teacher before at least making chuunin. “Can I sit in on some of your lessons?”

Naruto gives Genma-sensei a hopeful look. “Can she? It would be fun to learn with someone else!”

“Kid, I’m not going to tell someone they can’t learn with us, especially not one of Gai’s students,” Genma-sensei says, ruffling Naruto’s hair. “We normally do seals and traps training in the afternoon. Mornings are for teamwork and D ranks.”

Neji wrinkles his nose. He hates having to do D Rank missions. Dealing with that stupid cat…

“They suck so much,” Naruto groans, clasping his hands behind his head. “I hate weeding and that cat; it’s mean. The only person it likes is Sakura.”

“I think everyone hates that cat,” Neji says. “I don’t know how no one has ‘accidentally’ killed it.”

“Don’t kill the cat and cause a diplomatic incident,” Genma-sensei orders. “That’s Madam Shijimi’s, and antagonizing the wife of a high ranking member of the Daimyo’s court is a bad idea. She and her husband live here to ‘keep an eye’ on Konoha,” he adds, rolling his eyes. “And upsetting her can cause a lot of problems for the village.”

Well that’s unfair. 

“Hi Sakura! Hi Tenzo-sensei! Hi Kakashi-sensei! Hi bastard!” Naruto suddenly shouts, waving at the quartet already on the training grounds. 

“Naruto stop shouting!” a pink haired girl who must be Sakura shouts back. 

“No!”

“Calm down both of you, and let me introduce you six and explain what’s going on,” Kakashi-sensei says. 

* * *

“The six of you are probably asking ‘why are they here?’” Kakashi says. He resists the urge to yawn, still tired after a late night of planning. “And the answer to that is you six will be doing cross training today. You three,” he says, pointing at Team Seven, “need to see what a team that’s had six months and a distinct specialization on you can do.”

“What do you mean by ‘distinct specialization’?” Sasuke asks, frowning.

“The majority of genin squads are designed around ‘specializations’,” Gai says. “My team is technically a taijutsu specialized squad, though Tenten’s own specialization weapons based. In your year you have a tracking squad, Team Eight, and an intelligence gathering squad, Team Nine. Team Seven is technically an offense specialization squad, which is unusual.”

“Why is it unusual?” Naruto asks. 

“Because traditionally there aren’t enough students with the appropriate potential skill or ability sets to make up an offense squad. My genin squad was an offense squad,” Kakashi adds. “So were the Sannin.”

“You will find in some cases that you’ll have classmates who graduated with you and then vanish, even though they passed their jounin-sensei’s second test. Traditionally there’s one of two reasons for that to happen. Either all of the students decide in the end they don’t want to become active genin after trying it for a while, or the team specialization was something like infiltration, which means they immediately are drawn into Konoha’s so-called ‘shadow ranks’,” Tenzo adds. 

“But that is not the point today! The point today is that the six of you will be sparring, just using taijutsu. Sakura, please don’t accidentally use your Mokuton,” Kakashi says, watching jaws drop from Gai’s students. 

“It was discovered not long before graduation that I have Mokuton,” Sakura explains to them. She says nothing about her great grandfather. 

“Amazing!” Lee says perkily. “So you are training it?”

“It’s train it or turn into a tree,” she says. 

“...Okay?” Lee looks confused and Kakashi doesn’t exactly blame him.

“The fact Sakura has Mokuton is an S-class secret,” Kakashi says. “I received permission from the Hokage for you three to learn about it, since the four of us would like you six to train together at least once a week. This week it will be taijutsu. Next week it will be something else.”

“Now, let’s get this started. Neji and Naruto, I’ll keep an eye on you two. Lee and Sasuke, Gai’ll keep an eye on you, and Sakura and Tenten, Tenzo will keep an eye on you,” Genma rattles off. 

“Time to try something new.”

* * *

“My ribs,” Sakura groans. Tenten’s last blow had hurt.

Well, at least Mokuton meant it would be gone in the next five minutes. 

“Sorry,” Tenten says. “I hit you harder then I meant to.” 

“It’s fine,” Sakura says, wincing as she pokes the bruise. “We’re kunoichi. I need to get used to it. And get better at taijutsu,” she adds. “Tenzo-sensei has mostly been working on ninjutsu and chakra control with me.” She ignores Sasuke glaring at her when she says that. 

Then again, he could be glaring because Lee has him pinned in what looks like a cool arm lock.

“Ninjutsu already?” Tenten asks, looking surprised. “But didn’t you guys only graduate a week ago?”

“Yes, but Tenzo-sensei had already started training me before graduation,” Sakura explains. “So before the first day I already had things like tree and water walking down so I could start with ninjutsu.”

“Neat. I didn’t get to do any until after my first month,” Tenten says, plopping down next to where Sakura is sitting. 

“Like, I can do this,” Sakura says, hands quickly flicking through hands signs and a small tree forming at the end; it’s a miniature cherry blossom tree.

“Oooo,” Tenten says, poking the tree. “Pretty.”

“Tch. It’s just a pathetic, weak  _ tree _ ,” Sasuke sneers, now standing and out of Lee’s armlock, and Sakura knows instinctively he’s not actually referring to her successful, Mokuton created tree.

He’s referring to her.

Sakura feels her face go blank and can hear the pounding of her heart in her ears. 

She stands up.

_ Pathetic.  _

_ Weak.  _

**_Fucking excuse her?_ **

Her fist slams into Sasuke’s jaw and she’s kind of disappointed when she doesn’t feel anything break.

“Go to hell you  _ Sharingan-less  _ asshole,” she hisses, turning and stomping away, just barely registering Tenzo-sensei following her, or Kakashi-sensei declaring practice was over, everyone go home, or Naruto seeming to wander off with Team Gai.

_ Fucking arrogant Uchiha bastard.  _

* * *

Sasuke scowls as Kakashi-sensei hands him water and watches everyone else leave. Sakura glares at him over her shoulder as she stalks away with Tenzo-sensei. His jaw is throbbing from her punch. Naruto is ignoring them both, instead being overwhelmingly cheerful at the overwhelmed Hyuuga.

“You know, you deserved that,” Kakashi-sensei says. “Sasuke, I get that you’re frustrated over how slowly you think things are going, but you do realize there’s a reason for that, right? And that getting upset at Sakura when she’s being successful with her Mokuton training isn’t going to do anything but end with you eaten by a tree?”

“Eaten by a  _ what _ ?”

“A tree. Sometimes Mokuton-created trees and plant life can be a bit weird. It’s why Training Ground 44 is the way it is,” Kakashi-sensei says with a shrug. “Regardless of that,  _ you need to stop being a dick to your teammates _ . You also need to accept that you may not get your Sharingan.”

“I’m…” Sasuke trails off. “You really think I won’t get it?” 

“There’s a good chance. Even in ‘pure blood’ Uchiha families the Sharingan wasn’t a guarantee or with Uchiha shinobi. My friend whose eye I have? He only got it maybe an hour before it was transplanted in me.”

The idea he wouldn’t get his Sharingan...he’d never even thought it could happen. He needs to avenge his family, and to do that he needs his Sharingan so he can equal his brother. So he can be safe from his brother.  ~~ He needs to get the same _ eyes _ as his brother.  ~~

“What happened to your friend?” Sasuke asks, looking at the dirt. He can’t hear anything but the wind and birds chirping. “The one whose eye you have?”

Kakashi-sensei almost seems to pause and then sigh. 

“During the Third War he, our teammate Rin and I were sent on a mission to destroy Kannabi Bridge. _ Everything _ went wrong, culminating in me losing my original eye and him getting killed when he shoved me out of the way of a falling rock during a cave in. As he was dying he ordered Rin to transplant his undamaged eye into me.” He tilts his head up, and Sasuke can’t read his just barely visible expression. “I’m actually the only survivor of my genin team,” he says quietly. “Rin died later on in the war following us being ambushed by Mizu nin and Minato-sensei obviously died during the Kyuubi attack.”

“Oh,” Sasuke says, just as quietly. It hadn’t really occurred to him how weird it was to see a bunch of jounin helping them but never seeing someone Kakashi-sensei referred to as a former genin teammate. 

“The reason I’m going at what you think is a slow pace is because you need to build up your basics so you don’t need to rely on the possibility of getting a Sharingan. A Sharingan doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily be that powerful to begin with. Of the five shinobi who have been referred to as ‘Gods of Shinobi’ only one had a Sharingan, and only two had a kekkei genkai.”

“Wait, who are the ‘Gods of Shinobi’?

“The Shodai, the Nidaime, the Sandaime, Madara, and the Sandaime Raikage,” Kakashi-sensei rattles off. “It’s in part why Kumo has always been the village that’s rivaled Konoha in power,” he adds. 

“Kiri and Suna have never been that major of threats to Konoha, especially since the fall of Uzushiogakure at Kiri’shands. For all it destroyed Uzushio, it also almost destroyed Kiri’s status as one of the Great Villages. Nearly  _ seven thousand  _ Kiri shinobi died, including an entire generation of their Seven Swordsmen. Uzushiogakure’s entire population was only about  _ two thousand five hundred _ , between shinobi and civilians.

“After Kumo the two biggest threats have been Iwa and Ame. Population is the real reason why Ame has never been seen as a great power; same with Taki.”

“Why didn’t we get taught this in the Academy?” Sasuke asks, since he really can’t remember ever learning it. 

Kakashi-sensei shrugs. “I’ve never pretended to understand how the Academy curriculum works. I managed to get through it in a year and that’s because I’m a genius.” He pauses and Sasuke gets the impression he’s frowning. 

His next words are a suckpunch.

“I trained your brother while he first started in ANBU. Until he was made a captain he was on my squad. The ANBU Commander decided I was the best choice since your brother and I shared a lot of similarities in our childhoods, and it was considered stupid to have someone weaker then your brother both train him and command him.

“It’s also a secondary reason I was chosen as your jounin sensei. Myself, Gai and the Sandaime are the only three shinobi in the village capable of taking your brother on; if Tsuande and Jiraiya of the Sannin still lived in Konoha rather than traveling they’d also be able to take your brother on. There’s a good chance in fact that Gai would have been your initial sensei if he hadn’t taken on a team last year. Gai’s an absolute pain to fight for Sharingan users,” Kakashi-sensei explains. “He’s possibly the greatest taijutsu specialist in all of the Elemental Nations and from sparring with me he’s come up with what’s basically the perfect strategy for fighting a Sharingan user.”

Sasuke nods slowly. He’d never really thought about that, about the idea that Itachi could be avoiding Konoha because there were people who could possibly beat him in a fight. The idea that Itachi could be beaten without the Sharingan had never occurred to him, but it kind of makes sense. 

“How did he manage to escape after the Massacre then?” he asks, since if there had been three shinobi capable of fighting his brother on at least equal ground then how didn’t they catch him.?

“We actually don’t know,” Kakashi-sensei admits. “While ANBU members did manage to see him just before he escaped, no one has ever been able to find out how he managed to get out of Konoha without triggering Konoha’s protection seals. As a whole the fact he was able to commit the Massacre before anyone could sense it never has made sense due to the simple fact he did have an ANBU squad watching him at the request of your father. There were suspicions your brother may have killed Uchiha Shisui a year earlier, who after your brother was the strongest member of the clan,” he explains. “No one could prove it, but your brother was viewed as the most likely culprit.”

Sasuke nods slowly again. He vaguely remembers family members being weird around Itachi but he hadn’t known people thought he killed Shisui.

“But again. You don’t need a Sharingan to be a powerful ninja. Training will help you get there. Also,  _ stop being a dick to Sakura and Naruto.  _ They don’t deserve it,” Kakashi-sensei says, repeating his earlier point. “I know you’re jealous that Sakura has a kekkei genkai, but it’s not as if she knew about it prior then her growing that tree during your Academy lesson. Neither of them knew about their family legacies.”

“Okay,” Sasuke says, even though he knows he’s still going to be jealous. It’s hard not to be.

But it may be worth it to try.

* * *

“You okay?” Tenzo-sensei asks Sakura quietly. 

“Why is he such an asshole?” she asks, rubbing at her eyes. She’s so angry she wants to cry. 

“He’s jealous,” Tenzo-sensei says bluntly. “From Academy reports he was constantly praised as being a genius and honestly? The practice of ‘best shinobi and best kunoichi’ thing that the Academy does is a mistake since class ranking is extremely subjective and doesn’t necessarily reflect how things will be in the field.”

“I was top kunoichi,” she says with a grumble and a pout. She’d earned that, _ and _ she managed to outdo two clan heiresses to do it.

...Actually, come to think of it, does she now count as a clan heiress since she’s descended from the Nidaime, and she’s pretty sure Senju Tsunade doesn’t have any children?

“You were, but when you were near graduation you were closer to a paper nin than a field nin,” he says calmly. “Which in practice isn’t as helpful, but that’s also a general issue of the Academy and why I’m...well not exactly  _ grateful, _ but am fine with the fact I didn’t have to go to it.”

“You didn’t have to go to the Academy?” Sakura asks. She didn’t think it was possible to become a Konoha nin without graduating from one of the Academies.

“No, and I really can’t explain why since that is an S class secret I don’t have permission to talk about,” he says, cutting her off before she can ask. “Kakashi and Genma both did, even if Kakashi graduated in a year.”

“Wow,” Sakura says, impressed. 

“But again, Sasuke is jealous. Kakashi is trying to work on it.” Tenzo-sensei smiles at her. “It’s hard to change. You and I both know that wouldn’t have hurt so much if you didn’t have a crush on him,” mean calling her out on that, “but something tells me how much of a brat he’s being is killing that anyway.”

“Boys suck I think,” she says with a nod. 

She ignores Tenzo-sensei sniggering.

* * *

“Furuta-sama, I need to speak with you,” Izumi says, stepping into his office. 

“Ah, Tessen-dono.” Furuta-sama puts down the papers he’d been reading. She’s fairly certain it’s the treaty Genji had been badgering him for the past month to look at. “What is it?”

“I would like to act as your representative to the Spring Chuunin Exams,” she says. “I have matters I need to deal with in Konoha, and this way you do not need to trouble yourself with traveling to the Village.”

“I enjoy watching the final round of the exams,” he points out. 

“Yes, but you don’t enjoy dealing with the Kaze Daimyo in person, and you would most likely have to if you went to the exams. Rumor has it that the Kazekage’s children will participate in the Spring Exams, and doubtlessly he’d wish to watch them,” she says. 

Furuta-sama grimaces. “I do hate dealing with him…” he admits. “But to miss the exams entirely…You do realize Tessen-dono, that if you are so interested in going that you can simply be part of my retinue.”

She nods slightly, because that is true. She simply doesn’t want to have to deal with the political posturing that can arise from Furuta-sama interacting with the Hokage and his council. She doesn’t need the distraction while handling her own matters. Though then again, Sarutobi Asuma was now living in Konoha, and could serve as a good distraction. She knows Furuta-sama had been disappointed by his favorite Guardian returning to Konoha to take on a genin team.

“That is true Furuta-sama,” she admits. “So then may I?”

“Of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \---Kamuy-huci is in fact a real and very major goddess. Amongst other things, she is the hearth goddess of the Ainu, an indiginous minority in Japan and Russia. 
> 
> \---I spent way too long figuring out what honorific the daimyo would use for Izumi who is a powerful courtier in his court. ‘Dono’ is a more old fashion honorific, and in terms of ‘levels’ of honorifics would fall below ‘sama’, so it would be the term Furuta would use for her in polite conversation. ‘Dono’ would also be what Furuta would likely use to refer to any of the Hokage or the noble clan heads.
> 
> \---The comments on Sasuke’s Sharingan; something I was contemplating over how little sense it actually makes that his Sharingan doesn’t awaken till Wave. If there’s supposed to be an emotional trigger involved in it/stress trigger, the massacre should have caused it, and honestly it would have been pretty understandable if he’d leapt straight past standard Sharingan to Mangekyo due to that. Yes, I know there’s a hand wavy thing there, but it’s dumb. Yes Sasuke will still get his Sharingan, but I also wanted Kakashi and him to discuss what could happen if he never got it. It’s also part of why Kakashi explains Kannabi Bridge (at least a bit) with Sasuke.
> 
> \---Hi Team Gai you popped up sooner than planned. Will Team Gai and Team Seven terrify everyone by being Eternal Rivals? ….M a y b e. We’ll see more next chapter!
> 
> \---Madam Shijimi isn’t the daimyo’s wife here since it makes no sense that the wife is just randomly in Konoha when the capital for the Land of Fire isn’t in Konoha so instead she’s just the wife of a high ranking noble.
> 
> \---Did I have Sasuke swear to Indra due to the fact it would be hilarious? Yes, yes I did. Are we going to get similar moments with Naruto and Asura? Yep.
> 
> \---I headcanon there’s actually multiple Academies since the extremely tiny size of Naruto’s year doesn’t make sense, especially if it’s the average yearly class size. Based on how large the number of graduates there would need to be to justify the actual size of Konoha’s forces, it’s more likely the Academy Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura went to was the most elite one. Hence all the clan heirs being in their year. Per my thoughts Sakura and Lee got in via some form of test or other.
> 
> \---[Here's some art of Uzu, Lady of All Waters, aka the ancestress of all the Uzumaki](https://violetfoxsketches.tumblr.com/post/614767565353484288/digital-painting-commission-for-barid-bel-medar)

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my latest insanity, here's a few notes to bring joy to your day!
> 
> \--Catching or babysitting bitty Kakashi was a C to B rank mission. The person who had the highest success rate was Orochimaru.  
> \--Utatane Koharu is being a reasonable authority figure because I said so  
> \--Yes, I'm aware the Senju in canon are *not* a noble clan. I'm ignoring that because it feels more logical to me that they were.  
> \--The cosmology of this universe is the same as the 'A Sunlit Sea' universe. So no fucking aliens, but yes in some cases, gods do walk.  
> \--There will be other relationships in the future. Outside of the Raido/Genma thing I haven't decided on other matters.
> 
> For any of you interested, you can find me on [tumblr](barid-bel-medar.tumblr.com) or join me on my [discord](https://discord.gg/FkzgtHr) Over there you'll find future snippets, get to chat with me, and other random things.


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